Little Rock falls to top seed EIU in conference quarterfinals

CHARLESTON, Ill. — The Little Rock volleyball team met its preseason goal of making it to the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, but top seed Eastern Illinois made that trip a short one Monday, sweeping the Trojans in straight sets in the quarterfinal round at Lantz Arena.

BOX SCORE
 
The host Panthers (26-4) came out swinging early and held off the Trojans (11-19) in the third set to win by scores of 25-14, 25-13, 25-22. Eastern Illinois set the tone in the opening set, hitting .483 while converting 19 kills. They almost duplicated that effort in the second set with 18 kills and a .361 attaching percentage. The Panthers hit .343 for the entirety of the match and three players had at least 10 kills.
 
Little Rock had just 11 attacking errors in the match but couldn't find holes in the EIU defense, finishing with a hitting percentage of .161. Jeila Fullerton had a team-high 10 kills and hit .320. Bella Cherry had six kills and Daria Burrows had five. Dariana Valencia led the team with 12 assists, Andrea roman had 10 digs and Cail led the way with four blocks. The Trojans were hit with eight receiving errors and EIU took advantage of eight service errors in addition to a highly-effective attack.
 
OVC Player of the Year Giovana Larregui Lopez had a game-high 14 kills, 10 digs and hit .312 for the match. Natalie Mitchem added 13 kills and Emily Wilcox had 10 kills and four blocks.